Hippogriffs: not for hugging
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Draco Malfoy is still 'suffering' from a 'hurting arm' when Luna Lovegood comes along and completely misinterprets what happened to him.


**A/N**: Just a little one-shot I wrote once :) Hopefully you'll enjoy it!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the world of Harry Potter, and I doubt I ever will.

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><p>To say Blaise Zabini was amused by Malfoy's antics would be a lie. Sure, it had been funny to make things up, like how Malfoy had been injured and how much damage was done – it had been hilarious to see the Gryffindor's anger and the helplessness of the oaf that Hagrid was himself. But now, two days after the incident, it was getting old. Malfoy was still moaning about painful limbs every minute of the day, even though Blaise could easily see he was <em>fine<em>. Nothing was wrong. Madam Pomfrey had healed him within minutes, and Blaise didn't believe that it still hurt.

Sure, he appreciated the fact that Malfoy's acting was messing with the heads of all the people in this school neither of them liked. That didn't mean, however, that he also appreciated Malfoy demanding his and everybody else's attention whenever he felt like it.

Not that he normally didn't do it, but right now, he was 'hurt'. The girls tried to console him the best they could, and told the boys off if they tried to sneak off to do homework or something like that.

Blaise didn't see the point of that. Malfoy loved the attention the girls gave him. Why didn't he tell them to leave him (and Nott, who usually just rolled his eyes and ignored the girls, something Blaise hadn't been able to pull off yet) alone? The less attention they gave him, the more Malfoy could get.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" he finally asked as he and Malfoy were walking to the Great Hall together.

"Keep what up?" Malfoy asked in response, pretending not to know what Blaise what talking about.

"This façade," Blaise replied, becoming annoyed. "You're smiling and laughing now, acting all cheerful – which I get, since you got that Hagrid in a lot of trouble – but as soon as we enter the Great Hall, you are going to pretend that it still hurts and you're in a lot of pain. Clearly, you're not."

"Sshh," Malfoy shushed him, looking around for any onlookers. "Calm down, Zabini. What's the big deal? It's fun, isn't it, messing with that idiot's head?"

"The big deal is that I hardly get any homework done these days because the girls think it's necessary that I constantly coo over you like they do," Blaise said disdainfully.

Malfoy pulled a face. "Don't get that image in my head, Zabini, or I swear…" He trailed off at the sound of footsteps approaching them. After glancing around, Blaise looked back at Malfoy, who was, once again, clutching his 'painful' arm while pulling an admittedly funny face. Whether or not it was convincing enough remained to be seen.

Malfoy's expression faltered a bit, and Blaise turned to see what he was looking at. There, practically skipping through the hallway with her head obviously in the clouds, was Luna Lovegood. Blaise didn't really know the second year Ravenclaw, but he knew enough about her to realise she was sort of a freak. No wonder everyone always bullied her.

It appeared that they were going to stay where they were, if Malfoy's posture was something to go by, and stand as still as possible. It didn't matter; the girl spotted them long before she reached them, and skipped over.

"Oh, hello," she greeted them in that wondering voice of hers. "If you're trying to become statues, I don't think this is the right way to do it."

"No, we're not trying to be statues," Malfoy almost snarled at her, for a moment forgetting that he was supposed to be in pain. When he grabbed his arm again, the Ravenclaw's eyes followed the movement and smiled sadly.

"I heard what happened," she told them, her large eyes staring right through them. "That was a pretty stupid thing to do, don't you think?"

Malfoy snorted indignantly. "Oh? And what would you know about that?"

The girl stared at him, completely serious, and Blaise leaned forward, eager to hear what she was going to say. "You mean you didn't know?" She sounded confused now. "I thought everybody knew… Under no circumstances should you try to give a Hippogriff a hug." She gave them a fleeting smile and walked away in the same leisurely pace she had approached them with.

While Malfoy stared after the Ravenclaw, aghast that someone like her would say something like that to someone like him, Blaise fought back a smile. He would never admit it out loud, but Luna Lovegood had just made his day.

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><p><strong>AN**: So... what do you think? Let me know, please leave a review! :D


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